THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Copyright © 2010 by Sue Hendra

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Visit us on the Web! www.randomhouse.com/kids

Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at www.randomhouse.com/teachers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hendra, Sue.

Barry, the fish with fingers / by Sue Hendra. — 1st ed.

p.   cm.

Summary: When Barry the fish shows off his new fingers, all the fish are eager to get their own.

eISBN: 978-0-375-98926-1

[1. Fishes—Fiction. 2. Fingers—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.H3853Bar 2010

[E]—dc22

2009009888

The illustrations in this book were created using gouache.

Book concept by Paul Linnet and Sue Hendra.

Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

v3.0

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

First Page

About the Author

Sea Slug liked to lie on the ocean floor and watch the fish swim by.

He did this every day.

He saw fat ones, thin ones, some as big as cars, some as small as buttons.

Toothy ones, big-nosed ones, googly-eyed ones, spotty ones, stripy ones…

You name it, he’d seen it.

In fact, he thought he had seen it all…

…until he caught sight of Barry, that is.

“How do you do?” asked Barry, proudly waving his fish fingers.

“WOW! A fish with fingers!” exclaimed Sea Slug.

“These new fingers are the answer to every fish’s problem,” said Barry.

“What’s your problem?” Barry asked a moody-looking fish.

There was a long silence.

“I’m bored,” said the fish.

“We’re all bored,” said the others.

“Well, prepare to be un-bored….”

“With fingers I can…

Knit a scarf!

Count to ten!

Type a letter!

Make a paper chain!

Finger-paint!

Play the piano!

Have a big morning stretch!”

“Fingers really are a must for tickling.”

The fish could see why Barry loved his fingers. They could do so many things!

Suddenly the sea went dark and the water shook.

It was at that moment that one of Barry’s fingers did something truly amazing….

It pointed!

Thanks to Barry’s fast-acting finger, not a single fish got squished by the massive heavy box that fell into the sea.

Everyone cheered for Barry.

“Now I really have seen it all,” said Sea Slug.

Sue Hendra graduated from the University of Brighton, in England, with a degree in illustration. She has illustrated over seventy books for children, including Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks. When she’s not busy making books, Sue helps run an art club for children at two of her local museums.

Sue Hendra lives in Brighton, where she loves to swim, explore the surrounding countryside, and eat fish-finger sandwiches, much to Barry’s chagrin.